1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a distributed computer system connected to a plurality of processors via a network and an information management method therefor and more particularly to an information management method in a distributed computer system in which applications handling different kinds of information such as a control application and information processing application coexist and a system therefor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As a conventional information sending method between processors or program modules in the processors in a distributed computer system connected to a plurality of processors via a common transmission medium, for example, the art indicated in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-111353 is known. In the art indicated in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-111353, when a processor on the information sending side sends information to the common transmission medium, the processor adds a function code which is called a content code which corresponds to the content of the information and indicates the content thereof to the information and sends the information to the common transmission medium without designating the receiving opposite side. Each of the other processors refers to the content code added to the information sent to the common transmission medium and when the processor judges that it is necessary for the processing thereof, the processor receives the information. By this sending method, each processor in the system can send or receive information without taking account of the system configuration or the statuses of the other processors.
In recent computer systems, for example, computer systems used in fields such as traffic and FA (factory automation), co-existence is required of applications which are executed using information of quite different kinds and different qualities from each other such as the real-time control application and information service application in a computer system. However, in the aforementioned prior art, information sent via the common transmission medium is information of the same kind of application content and no consideration is given to handling of information of quite different kinds and different qualities in a single system. Therefore, when a plurality of kinds of information are sent in a single system by the aforementioned prior art, there is the possibility that information of an attribute flows into a processor which is processing information of another attribute and execution of the processing is crippled. Therefore, to let different kinds of applications coexist in a single computer system and execute processing utilizing respective characteristics, how to manage program modules which are the substance for processing various different kinds of applications in the system and attributes of information which are generated by the different kinds of applications and how to separate those informations from each other or integrate them become a problem.